Welcome to Paradise

For my 16th birthday my parents took me, and my younger brother, to Ultra Music Festival in Miami because I was into house music. I find that fact to be embarrassing for all parties involved.

My wannabe rave girl persona aside, I was super into popular house music—Deadmau5, Diplo, those three Swedish men, the other Swedish man. At that point in my life music festivals didn’t involve alcohol or drugs or sex, I was with my family and still a virgin. I had a good time though because as bad as it sounds, it was really about the music for 16 year old me. The “Welcome to Paradise” compilations released in 2017 by the label Safe Trip based in Amsterdam all feature true gems from the Italian disco era of the late 80s and early 90s. I still <3 house music.

There are three volumes in total, all of which contain pure jams from the years 1989-1993. The volumes are co-compiled by Safe Trip’s founder Young Marco and feature a variety of different artists from the italo-disco era which thrived until the late 80s. The tracks are rich—this Pitchfork article said it’s “rich and creamy” like “gelato” so there’s that. I tend to agree, the tracks are very much would you would think would be playing in 1985 at a bar along the Amalfi Coast. They’re layered with synths, sometimes a man says “sex”, and they make me want to be a DJ. This Spotify playlist has all three volumes. Ciao.